Ellerslie Rugby Park – The fantastic firsts are back on track in premier men’s rugby after last weekend’s win but how long they remain on the rails depends on Friday’s tussle with the first-place Nor’Westers.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. at the home of the Nor’Westers.
The joint will be jumping after the Nor’Westers (5-0) laid a 57-26 licking on the firsts (2-2) June 3 at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club. The worst loss suffered by the firsts since 2013 was also the second victory in three matches by the Nor’Westers against the winners of three Labatt’s Cup provincial championships in a row.
“It’s going to be a huge game. It’s definitely the biggest this year so far. That’s the strongest team in the north half (of the premier fixtures) so we’ve got to come ready and we will,” captain Brett Kelly declared after the firsts stopped a rare two-game losing skid in Saturday’s 33-19 decision against the Lep/Tigers.
“If we want to four-peat this year we definitely have to come out and play 80 minutes. We did that a lot better today than we did the last few games.”
Last year the Nor’Westers stunned the firsts 38-36 after leading by 12 with about 10 minutes remaining. The firsts battled back from a 17-point halftime deficit with 29 unanswered points to jump ahead of the Nor’Westers. The winning score was a converted try on the last play of the match at SARFC.
The firsts recovered from the loss and their second of the season to knock off the Nor’Westers 41-38 in the Ken Ann Cup north final after falling behind 12-0. The result marked the second year in a row the firsts defeated the Nor’Westers while securing their eighth spot in the Labatt’s Cup final in nine years with the fourth Ken Ann Cup triumph in four years.
Pressure is mounting on the firsts to perform in Friday’s rematch after the lacklustre effort while falling behind 33-7 at halftime and it was 57-7 when the home side scored the second of four tries with about 15 minutes remaining.
“We have to definitely change and be better,” said Kelly, noting the reversal in form starts with the team’s structured play. “We were running around before and we’ve got to just slow it down and keep it simple rugby and that’s exactly what we did today.”
It wasn’t exactly vintage rugby against the Lep/Tigers (1-4), last year’s second division provincial champions who returned to the premier ranks after a two-year absence, but a series of lengthy defensive stands in the second half while capitalizing on opportunistic chances propelled the firsts to victory.
The Lep/Tigers opened the scoring with a converted try in the fourth minute and the firsts replied with tries under the posts by Lawrence Ross (cracked the try line following a five-metre lineout ball in seventh minute) and Orrin Farries (split the defensive line after picking off a pass in the 17th minute). British import George Harding converted both tries.
It was 14-12 when Matt Jarvis barged his way into the try area with a short run late in the first half. The firsts maintained possession of the ball for a few minutes after recovering a turnover in their half of the pitch, leading up to another five-metre lineout with Jarvis the finisher on the play.
Leading 19-12 to kick-off the second half, the firsts were forced to protect their try area against the attacking Lep/Tigers for a prolong period of time and the initial push-back led to some slippery running by Adam Bontus for a try 14 minutes after the break and Harding split the uprights.
The firsts also survived a sin-bin infraction to Angus (Gus) MacDonald over a dirty deed by the zealous prop to keep the 26-12 advantage intact while the Lep/Tigers threatened within scoring range.
“We’ve just got to stick to our line, get constant pressure and shut them down before they can get anything going. If you let them have anything they will score, any team in the league will,” Kelly said.
Harding’s pick-off on an alert read and bee-line through the posts after MacDonald’s sentence had expired was also converted by the diminutive standoff to make it 33-12 with about 15 minutes to go during an injury-filled second half for both teams.
Chad Monai-Brophy’s knock-on while crossing the try line and Aiden Zalasky, who subbed on in the backs in the second half, had a try held up prevented the firsts from piling up more points.
The Lep/Tigers closed out the scoring with a converted try off a chip and chase with six minutes left.
An interesting lineup change to the starting 15 was veteran Matt Herold replacing Jake Robinson at scrumhalf and the 2016 Edmonton Rugby Union senior men’s player of the year was slotted at outside-centre.
The firsts were led by the inspired Robert Blunden, a standout at hooker, and the rambunctious Kelly at second row.
Kelly, 28, is back inflicting pain and causing havoc after missing last year for repairs to his battered body that was held together by barbed wire and Gorilla Glue.
The John Wayne of St. Albert rugby underwent two shoulder and one thumb reconstruction surgeries.
“I feel good actually. It’s good to be out and be back,” said the high school rugby product of the Paul Kane Blues. “I love the club. I love the sport. I was anxious to get back out. I probably shouldn’t be back out here but here I am.”
SCRUM BALLS: The terrific thirds improved to 4-1 in Saturday’s 44-24 win over the Pirates (1-3) at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The man of the match was flanker Ben Miller, a Grade 11 Bellerose Composite High School student who scored four tries for the first-place third division team in the Edmonton Rugby Union.
The 2015 ERU and provincial champions who finished 2-9 last year are back on the pitch June 23 against the host Leduc Crude (1-1) at 7 p.m.
